How many of us can truthfully say that we regularly feel fully rested and refreshed after the last few years we’ve had? Many people often underestimate the importance of sleep to our overall mental health and wellbeing.

It’s important to have sufficient, regular, good quality sleep for our physical and mental health. Short periods of unsettled sleep can often be managed with well-researched tips however, longer periods may require a consult with your GP.

 Some Useful Tips

• Short “nana naps” or “chill out times” during the day can help us to refresh our minds and bodies.
• Aim to go to bed at a similar time each night.
• Spend a quiet period immediately prior to turning in to help your body and mind settle.
• A warm bath or shower before bed can help the body to relax and calm down.
• Get to know your body and the effects of alcohol, spicy food and other stimulants too close to your bedtime.
• It is preferable to keep your bedroom as distraction-free zones - no phones, TVs, iPads etc.
• Darkening the room so your body automatically prepares itself for rest can be helpful.
• If listening to music, keep the volume low and the type of music soothing, so you are likely to drift off.
• If you regularly wake up during the night and have difficulty falling back to sleep, remember that it may help to get up, have some water or a decaffeinated tea, sit and quietly breathe, rather than lying in bed tense and frustrated that you are awake. Once you are feeling more soothed and settled return to bed.

It is worth formulating your own list of practical, healthy, accessible, common-sense ways to soothe your body and mind, so you can zero in on and practice what works for you.

Counselling support can help you to identify when stress and anxiety are affecting sleep and how to move forward. Start now and benefit from this free and confidential service.

Businesses can maximise the productivity and efficiency of their diverse workforce through:

 1. Developing an understanding of employees and embracing difference

 Seek first to understand before being understood - get to know what really makes your team tick. Ask respectful questions with the intention to better understand someone. Recognise and appreciate team members by knowing and using their full range of skills and talents and remove obstacles to their effective participation.

 2. Building cohesive teams through open communication

 Recognising that we all have biases shaped through our own life experiences which affect our perception of others. As leaders, it is important to raise awareness of these biases to help build tolerance, understanding and acceptance amongst employees. Understand that we have to adapt our communication to meet individual team members' needs. Culture informs our communication - facilitate a respectful and curious discussion about this in your workplace.

Our counselling services are conducted in an inclusive and non-judgemental space utilising the specialisations of our counsellors, psychologists, and social workers to the very best advantage. Our LGBTQIA+ Dedicated Line is answered by trained and supportive consultants. We will be using pronouns to identify ourselves and we’ll be asking our clients how they would like to be addressed. We go a step further as AccessEAP will also provide ACON’s Pride in Health + Wellbeing Program training and support for all of our people, to ensure that communications, policy, documents and procedures are in line with best practice.

Those calling the LGBTQIA+ Dedicated Line will be offered counsellors that we have verified as being trained and/or have experience working with the LGBTQIA+ community, not only for issues related to gender and sexuality but also a broad understanding of the barriers, obstacles and generally different issues that LGBTQIA+ community experiences. Please feel free to make specific requests in order for us to find the most suitable counsellor. Our Customer Services Consultants will work hard to use culturally appropriate language and we welcome feedback to continually learn and improve our service.

We want people to feel they can be who they are and feel they belong.

Call the LGBTQIA+ Dedicated Line on 1300 349 950

Humans are herd animals. We like to hang out together, share our experiences and talk through our decisions. Spending time with others can enrich how we view the world, build our confidence, provide emotional support, and can just be plain fun!

Yes, there are certainly lots of individual differences in how much time we like to be with others. But, overall, if we become socially isolated and feel lonely, it has a detrimental impact on our mental health.

The importance to us of enjoying positive relationship is acknowledged by Positive Psychology, where constructive relationships is one of the six elements that support a happy, flourishing life. These six elements, represented by the letters PERMAH (Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment and Health) are taught around the world to help people lead satisfying meaningful lives.

The six attributes that support a flourishing life don’t just happen by themselves. The integration of them into the way we live can take effort and an ongoing commitment until they become second nature to us to cultivate them on a daily basis.

This is certainly true of friendships. Friendships, indeed any positive relationships at work or outside of it, take time and effort to cultivate. If, in the busyness of life, we continually ignore others or give them minimal attention, don’t make time for positive interactions, and keep to ourselves, then it’s much less likely we will experience positive relationships. On the other hand if we take a moment to greet others, check in with them, share something of ourselves and listen empathetically we are creating the foundations of a strong supportive network.

It’s the start of a new year – and, if you are like the 70% of Australians who made new year’s resolutions last year^[1], you have probably already made one or two resolutions for 2024. Whatever resolutions you have made there’s one part of new year resolutions it might be worth taking a look at. Are you making the resolution because you want to, or because you feel you should?

Doing something because you want to and because you should are two very different things. Take a moment to notice how a want to feels… then feel a should. A want to probably feels lighter and draws you in. A should probably feels heavier and more rigid. With a should we typically feel the reason we are doing it is to please someone else, with a want to we are typically doing it for ourselves.

Research from the University of Pennsylvania points to fun and enjoyment being a very important part of keeping to any sort of change you are wanting to introduce into your life^[2]. If doing something makes you feel good while you do it, you’re more likely to do it again tomorrow. Want to’s are fun, shoulds are plain hard work!

Reconsider that new year resolution you made recently. Will you enjoy doing it? If the answer is a resounding no, then, sorry to break it to you, but you’re chance of maintaining that resolution is not good, and it’s probably a should. That doesn’t mean you now immediately give up on it – but it does mean you might want to re-think it. Back to that research from the University of Pennsylvania, a key takeaway is that framing the same situation in a different way can provide a substantial boost to your motivation.

How might that should become a want to with some fun inside of it? First, own it. If it’s your doctor telling you to lose weight, and you feel you should, then ask yourself what do you need to do to take ownership of this goal so you are doing it for you, not to please your doctor? This might take some introspection and a chat with an AccessEAP counsellor to help you understand what’s going on. Counselling isn’t just for a crisis. It works very well when you want to make a positive change. 

AccessEAP Meditation Series: Guided Mindfulness

• Presented by: Dr Stephen Malloch
• Duration: 5 mins 52 secs

Embedding Link: https://vimeo.com/666582629

At the start of a new year we often make resolutions to change some way of behaving that we are unhappy with. For example, we vow to exercise more. We then take up a new gym membership, and then…we go once.

So this new year you might want to look at enhancing a particular approach to living that can be applied to pretty much anything – an approach that can be very life enhancing. That approach is to practice being curious.

In the theory of emotion put forward by the neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, our drive to explore the world and to discover is primarily emotional in nature. So curiosity is a feeling.  

What would it be like to grow this feeling of curiosity? Would you take a short course? Choose a different holiday destination? Maybe even question some of your assumptions about who you are and how you behave?

At the heart of curiosity is paying attention. Sometimes our attention ‘muscle’ gets a bit out of condition. We start taking things for granted. We assume we know what life is about and what our partner or friend is like. We believe that because the way we did something yesterday worked, that it is the best approach for what happens tomorrow.

The AccessEAP 2024 Wellbeing Calendar and Quarter 1 Pack has launched! Making time for self-care within our personal and professional lives can be tricky so we have created the Quarter 1 Pack to help get you started. 

The theme for Quarter 1 is Self-Care, highlighting the following key awareness days: 

• 24 January - International Day of Education
• 13 February - Anniversary of National Apology Day
• 8 March - International Women's Day
• 20 March - International Day of Happiness
• 21 March - Harmony Day

Download the Quarter 1 Pack - Self-care
Access the calendar and the Q1 Pack (Poster, Infographic & Activity) via the Employee Portal - https://www.accesseap.com.au/employees/index.php

Q1 Pack + Suggested Training & Services
The calendar along with leader resources and suggested training & services is available via the Employer Portal- https://www.accesseap.com.au/employers/index.php 

If you have any questions, call AccessEAP on 1800 818 728 or reach out to your main contact. As always, our people are here to help support you and your people be their best in life and work.

Shari Walton, Organisational Development Consultant

Promote a socially and emotionally healthy workplace climate by adopting specific combinations of leadership behaviours and strategies

Leading a team has always presented challenges and this has only continued to increase recently. With burnout rates going up and new legislation requiring organisations to proactively address psychosocial (emotional and social) hazards, new research suggests leaders can create a safer and higher-performance work environment by developing specific combinations of leadership strategies.

Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, explains that specific combinations of leadership behaviours shape an employee’s mindset, experience, and quality of work. Leaders can better create a psychosocially safe climate by moving away from authoritative leadership and demonstrating consultative leadership and supportive leadership styles combined with challenging leadership.

Consultative leadership encourages employees to support each other and seek each other’s input. Challenging leadership encourages employees to aspire to do more and encourages the expression of creativity, sense of empowerment, and desire to learn and improve. All these factors have a direct and indirect effect on psychological safety.

Thank you for partnering with us in 2023. We hope you have a relaxing and refreshing festive season.

Please be assured our counselling and critical response support services remain available throughout the holiday season by calling 1800 818 728. 

Our other services and offices will break from Friday 22nd December 5pm and return Monday 8th January 9am.

As we approach the end of the year, some of us may have time off coming up or some of us may be busier than usual. Whichever category you fall into, it can be a great time of year to think about how we spend our time and if that matches how we want to spend our time. 

We all know logically that time is a finite resource.

Yet many of us live as if it can be stretched so that we can fit more and more into a 24-hour day.

So given time is limited, deciding how we want to spend it is important.

• Do you feel you have choice about how you spend your time? Could you exercise more choice?
• As well as deciding how you spend your time doing things, what do you spend your time thinking about?

“With our thoughts we make the world” said the Buddha.

When life gets busy, and our routines get out of whack, it can be tricky to maintain a consistent exercise routine. Wherever you are at, it’s great to think about increasing your physical activity or even to shake things up and try something new.

Here are some tips to inspire you to get moving:

• Set a health goal. Write it down and share it with colleagues and friends – this will mean you are more likely to achieve it. Gradually work towards that goal, step by step.
• Understand your why – what is pushing you to increase your fitness? Could it be deeper than a waist measurement and more like stress management or better sleep?
• If you take public transport home from work –get off one station earlier and walk home.
• Take 20 minutes out of your Sunday and plan your week to fit in the exercise. Find a calendar that you can colour code, choose your favourite colour for exercise, and slot in times to get active. This will mean that no other meetings can be booked at that time.
• Factor in household duties. Think of cleaning your house as part of your exercise regime. Walk to the local shops multiple times a week to get supplies rather than driving.
• Don’t expect to love doing the “couch to five km” app (for example) straight away. This is a new skill and not something that you may be good at quickly.
• Find your supports and ask them for specific things – meet you at the park, parent/care for loved ones, not book meetings in your lunch break.
• Get a routine around your exercise and set yourself up for success. Get your clothes out and make sure your shoes are easily found (you can sleep longer if this is done).
• Go for a short, sharp 20-minute exercise plan that will allow you some flexibility to keep living your life and the demands in it.
• If you prefer working out from your home, get creative. Go for a walk and then come home and lift some cans of spaghetti and some large pumpkins for weights. This keeps costly gym memberships down too.

Counselling support can help you set goals and identify when stress and anxiety are affecting your choices and impacting your health. Call AccessEAP on 1800 818 728 to book a session.

What Is Counselling?
Counselling sessions provide a comfortable and safe environment where you can talk openly without judgement about what is happening for you. The counsellor does not label you or give a diagnosis. People often use counselling to speak about common life stressors, e.g. relationships or workplace stress or to learn how to reach life goals.

What happens in a Counselling Session?
During the first appointment, the counsellor will aim to hear and understand what is happening in your life and what you may want to achieve from counselling. You decide what you want to focus on in the sessions and the counsellor will work with you to find approaches that may help you. Through counselling, you will receive support as you try new strategies or approaches. The counsellor will never instruct you if you are trying to make a decision about something, however they will discuss your options and help you decide what approach is going to work best for you.

What if I don’t feel a connection or “like” my counsellor?
It is important that you get the greatest benefit possible from your session so that may mean providing feedback and seeking a different counsellor to move forward with.

Making an Appointment
Making an appointment is as easy as telephoning 1800 818 728 during business hours, Monday-Friday 9am-5.30pm AEST. Calls will be answered by our Customer Services Team. 24/7 assistance is also available for urgent counselling. When phoning us for the first time, an employee will need to provide the following information:

• Their name, their employer, and a few contact details
• Whether they would like to book a standard appointment or if they need immediate assistance.
• If they have any preferences in relation to the counsellor e. g., gender, age, specialisation.
• Location preference if sessions are face-to-face*. Phone, chat or video sessions are also available.

Why is it that we can feel lonely in a crowd? How can we feel lonely when we have so many “friends” on social media or apps? The fact is, feeling connected to others depends on the quality of our relationships and how we think about them – loneliness is perceived social isolation. It is normal to feel lonely sometimes, just as it is normal to feel sad or anxious or tired or hungry. However, loneliness becomes a problem when it causes us distress or impacts our ability to get on with everyday life. Although simply “getting out there” and meeting people may be enough for some, for others this may not be enough. Many people live with chronic loneliness and may require a more considered approach in order to feel more socially connected.

1. Accept that sometimes feeling lonely is a normal part of life. Loneliness is a feeling. As with any feeling, loneliness serves a purpose. Rather than viewing loneliness as something bad, we can interpret it as a signal – it motivates us to maintain or repair our relationships. Once we acknowledge that loneliness is a signal and accept it as a normal part of life, we can then attempt to get on with everyday life despite feeling lonely.

2. Monitor your loneliness in different situations. Keep a diary, recording how lonely you feel at different points throughout the day (give it an “intensity rating” out of 10). After a week or two, you may notice patterns in terms of how lonely you feel across different situations.

3. Recognise the power of thoughts. Reflect on the thoughts that run through your head and how they may influence what you do or how you feel. 

4. Be aware of your own behaviour. If you feel anxious about social situations or believe you need to keep your distance to protect yourself, you may tend to avoid forming new social connections. Even though it may feel uncomfortable, try doing something different – talk to your neighbour, join a club, go to a party, or eat your lunch in the common area at work.

As the year comes to its end, we might be planning get-togethers for friends and family, perhaps thinking about what this year has been about, and starting to think about what we want for the year that is coming. For some, it’s a time to celebrate Christmas, Hanukah, or the summer or winter solstice (depending on which hemisphere you live in). Whatever we do, or not do, there is something significant about us reaching the end of a year – that point in time where we come to an ending and then re-start, where January 1 marks the re-beginning of a journey that will take us all the way through to the end of December again.

For thousands of years, humankind has marked significant social and natural events through ritual. Rituals are symbolic events, often participated in by large groups of people. They are ways to create meaning. At this time of year, you may want to spend time reflecting on what all the activity, the interactions, and the effort of the past 12 months means to you. Do you look back over the year with a sense of ‘well, that was good’, ‘thank goodness that’s over’, or some combination of both? Do you want to live the same ways in the coming year, or do you want things to be different? And if you want things to be different, what are you going to do so that you create something different? 

So we at AccessEAP invite you to take a moment to reflect – perhaps create your own small ritual. You could light a candle, sit in a favourite chair, go to a place in nature which you find particularly peaceful or beautiful, and take time to think through what this year has been like for you, and what you want for yourself in the year to come. If we are always involved in doing, it’s very hard to break out of the existing patterns of our life. If we make time to reflect and consider, it creates a gap, a small space of new possibility where we can insert a new thought, experiment with a new way of being and behaving, make change so we move in a different direction. When we do that, something different will happen. It can be an experiment we run within our lives.

So try something new, something that inspires you a bit more, that moves you towards something that you will be proud of. A way of being, that when you look back from the vantage point of approaching the end of next year, you can say ‘that was good!’

Wishing you a restful, replenishing and reflective time as this year closes and the next begins.

The role of organisations in helping to end violence against women

Marcela Slepica, Director, Clinical Services

On October 17^th 2022 State and Federal governments released the National Plan to end violence against women and children. This 10-year plan includes a framework of actions to end violence against women and children in one generation. It highlights how all parts of society including governments, businesses and workplaces, media, schools, and communities must work together towards a shared vision of ending gender-based violence.

The statistics are very confronting. 1 in 5 women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15, 1 in 6 women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a current or previous cohabitating partner since the age of 15 and 1 in 4 women have experienced emotional abuse by a current or previous cohabitating partner since the age of 15. The rates are higher for certain groups such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women¹.

To address these staggering figures, the National Plan has 4 domains: Prevention, Early Intervention, Response and Recovery, and Healing. The government has now released the First Action Plan (2023 2037). The First Action Plan provides a roadmap for the first 5 year effort towards achieving the vision of the National Plan. It sets out the initial scope of activities, areas for action and responsibility with respect to outcomes, and outlines how they will make the commitments set out in the National Plan a reality. Read more about the First Action Plan and the ten action items they are committing to implement here.

Shari Walton, Organisational Development Consultant

Prioritising the people side of change will help to create a psychologically healthy work environment where employees feel comfortable asking for help, sharing suggestions informally, or challenging the status quo without fear of negative social consequences. An effective team values psychological safety as much as physical safety and performance standards.  When this is the experience of individuals and teams, organisations are able better to innovate, leverage the benefits of diversity and adapt well to change. A psychologically healthy workplace is a precursor to adaptive, innovative practices, which is very much needed at the individual, team, and organisation levels in today’s rapidly changing environment.

Staying in your comfort zone can feel calming and reassuring in the short term, but it’s not a long-term solution for success. Challenging the status quo can support transformation, alleviate anxiety, broaden horizons and minimise stress.

Recent research suggests that organisations can foster a healthy and successful workplace by supporting and developing leaders to demonstrate specific leadership behaviours that help their employees thrive through change.

Some examples of positive leadership behaviour include:

This November Support Act is partnering with triple j, the Australian Recording Industry Association and other key partners for Ausmusic T-Shirt Day. It's a great way to show support for Australian music - and the people who make it. The day will be held on Thursday the 30th of November and will help raise funds to provide crisis relief and mental health services to artists, crew and music workers who are doing it tough.

"Ausmusic T-Shirt Day is an annual day of fun and awareness, to celebrate Aussie music and raise urgently-needed funds for music workers in crisis. We deliver this through short term financial support; funeral support; mental health prevention, education and training programs; the Mentally Healthy Workplaces Program; and the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline." Visit the Ausmusic T-shirt Day Website here.

Did you know that AccessEAP partners with Support Act to deliver the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline?

The Support Act Wellbeing Helpline is a free, confidential counselling service that is available to anyone working in Australian music (all genres), or the Australian Performing Arts, who needs to talk to someone about any aspect of their wellbeing. It is delivered in partnership with AccessEAP, and is staffed by professional counsellors who offer expertise in all areas related to mental health (e.g. depression, anxiety, addiction) as well as issues which can be mental health-related (such as loneliness, relationship breakdown, financial worries, illness and workplace conflict).

The service is accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days per year by calling 1800 959 500 within Australia. Find out more information about the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline here.

With the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25th, November is a great opportunity to bring people together – in person or online - to raise awareness and commit to action to prevent violence against women. 

On October 17^th 2022 State and Federal governments released the National Plan to end violence against women and children. This 10-year plan includes a framework of actions to end violence against women and children in one generation. It highlights how all parts of society, including governments, business and workplaces, media, schools, and communities must work together towards a shared vision of ending gender-based violence.

Read more about the plan and how AccessEAP can support you and your organisation here - Release of the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032.

The government has now released the First Action Plan (2023 2037). The First Action Plan provides a roadmap for the first 5-year effort towards achieving the vision of the National Plan. It sets out the initial scope of activities, areas for action and responsibility with respect to outcomes, and outlines how they will make the commitments set out in the National Plan a reality. Read more about the First Action Plan and the ten action items they are committing to implement here.

November is a big month for Men's Health, with Movember spanning across the whole month and International Men's Day on the 19th. Both initiatives are all about promoting men's health and wellbeing, encouraging men to get the support they need. One of the biggest challenges for many men in Australia is opening up and having conversations that can help with health and wellbeing.

The great thing about having a chat is that we can get it out of our heads and find ways to deal with what’s stressing us. Having that conversation early on can mean that we deal with something in the moment and stop it from escalating into something bigger. AccessEAP can help coach you to develop your own coping strategies, ways of thinking and how to work through tough times. These are life skills that can be learned and used when needed.

Here are some tips to help men reach out in times of need:

• Take action sooner rather than later. Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today when it comes to your mental health.
• Just having a conversation is positive for your mental health. It is not a sign of weakness.
• Maintain social contact- keep in touch with family and friends. Try a new sport, or activity with others, which is good for physical health and social connection. Sporting clubs are often just meeting places where playing the sport is a bonus.
• Make looking after yourself a priority. Set goals for sleep, exercise and time out, whether that be fishing, football, or reading. You can’t look after those around you if you can’t look after yourself.
• Remember that the best health can be achieved by looking after both your physical and mental health. See your GP for regular check-ups and address health issues if and when they present.
• Ask for help. Challenging life events happen to us all at some point; no one is immune. Has your loved one or partner suggested you get some help? They may have noticed you are not yourself. Equipping yourself with the tools and strategies you need to cope with life’s events can be helpful. Start with your EAP and a confidential appointment to start kitting up.

For more information or to book an appointment, call us on 1800 818 728.